Twitter wins battle to speed up Elon Musk lawsuit

Twitter will meet Elon Musk in a Delaware courtroom in October about his bid to “end its $44 billion takeover of the platform

Twitter won the first stage in its legal battle with Elon Musk after a US judge agreed to his request to speed up the lawsuit against his former lover.

Elon Musk has resisted Twitter’s request to expedite a lawsuit over his bid to end the $44 billion acquisition deal he signed for the social media company.

Twitter had sued Elon Musk last week and the social media platform had asked for the trial start in September this year because the merger agreement with Musk expires on October 25.

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But Musk argued that his team took a long time to discover and requested a trial date on or after February 13, 2023, to allow for a comprehensive investigation into his claims that Twitter has misrepresented the number of fake or spam accounts. .

Twitter had said in April of this year that less than 5 percent of Twitter users are spam or fake accounts.

However, Musk believes the actual number of fake or bot accounts is closer to 20 percent or more.

But now Reuters reported A Delaware judge ruled Tuesday that Twitter deserved a quick resolution of the uncertainty over the deal, and that the trial would begin in October, in a blow to Elon Musk and his legal team.

Twitter had argued that delaying the process until next year could jeopardize funding for the deal.

Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Court of Chancery in Delaware said Tuesday the company deserved a quick decision on its claims, Reuters reported.

“The reality is that delay threatens irreparable harm to the sellers,” she said, referring to Twitter.

McCormick asked the parties to work out the timeline for the trial, which she said would last five days.

A lawyer for Musk did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment.

Dissolution of billions of dollars?

“We are delighted that the court agrees to expedite this process,” said a Twitter spokesperson.

Twitter wants Chancellor McCormick to order Musk to close the deal at the agreed price of $54.20 per share.

Twitter had repeatedly warned Elon Musk that it would enforce the deal he signed, insisting that his justifications for Twitter’s material violations of the deal were “false and misleading statements.”

In the agreement he signed with Twitter, Musk can only pull out if something major happens to Twitter’s business, and it’s questionable whether Twitter’s bot issue is sufficient justification.

Twitter could demand $1bn (£836m) contractual severance payment from Musk, if he were to rescind the agreement.

However, this huge amount of money means that Musk is likely to vigorously challenge the Twitter lawsuit.